Shadow, Silver and Sonic found themselves in a spacious room after the red glitches from Infinite's massive reality bending trick dissipated. They barely had time to recover from this disorienting event as there was another modified Death Stalker with the hedgehogs. One of the cannons on it fired a missile at Silver. Reflexes momentarily took control and the hedgehog's hand shot out to catch the projectile in his mental grasp. The time traveler quickly summarized what was going on and threw the rocket back at the Death Stalker, just like he did with the first one. After the resulting explosion, the Grimm even reacted in the same way as its predecessor: it rushed towards Silver, hissing. But this time he was better prepared. Turquoise energies swirled around the mobian as he focused the power of his thoughts on himself and let himself float through the air, far above the Death Stalker that raced past beneath him. The cannons on the modified Grimm were all aimed at the flying time traveler and he had to dodge the various shots wildly in the air.
Shadow and Sonic ran towards the soulless creature, the former raising his hand to throw Chaos Spears at the cannons. Unfortunately, the Death Stalker noticed the hedgehogs and swung its tail towards them. The speedster duo jumped over it, rolled up in the air and launched a joint Spindash that destroyed the laser cannon. The scorpion-like Grimm shook off the hedgehogs and they fell to the ground. Eyes burning with hatred, the Grimm turned to them and lunged at the duo with its pincers raised.
Psychokinetic energies caused it to stop just a few centimeters from the two's faces.
Silver, hovering over the Death Stalker, had both hands outstretched, the symbols on the palms of the gloves glowing strongly as the Grimm fought against Silver's mental grip, trembling slightly.
"Sonic, Shadow, hurry up, it's fighting back harder than expected," Silver said.
The remaining canons on the Death Stalker´s back split their focus, the flamethrower aiming at the hedgehog in the air and the other on the ones on the ground.
Shadow destroyed the rockets with Chaos Spears, giving him and Sonic time to get up and move away from the massive Grimm. Silver was finally able to let it go and barely dodged the stream of fire aimed at him.
The Death Stalker itself charged at Sonic and Shadow with its stinger raised. The hedgehogs jumped apart so that it dug into the metal ground between them. And got stuck there.
The Death Stalker hissed and pulled.
The Flamethrower aimed at Shadow, but he destroyed it with a Chaos Lance.
Sonic, on the other hand, jumped onto the stuck spike and ran up its tail, when he was over the back he jumped down and used several homing attacks to destroy the remaining cannon.
The Death Stalker broke free and shook Sonic off. It aimed a claw at its head, but Shadow drew its attention by bombarding it with Chaos spears. The Grimm's eyes seemed to glow more intensely as it turned towards him, hissing aggressively, and attacked.
The ultimate life form effortlessly dodged every single pincer and stinger strike. The Death Stalker tried to ram him, but Shadow slipped under it. There he got a good look at the pitch-black exoskeleton, devoid of the thick bone and metal armor.
Shadow smirked as he realized that the creature just gave him an opening in ending this fight. Chaos Energy crackled and pulsated around Shadows entire body. With all his might he focused it, the golden glow becoming brighter and brighter.
Sonic, realizing what his partner was planning, ran as far away from the Death Stalker as he could, motioning for Silver to follow him.
The Grimm itself tried to bend its legs and crush the living being underneath it with its weight. But it was to late. With a loud "CHAOS BLAST!" the harnessed energy was unleashed and the soulless creature in its entirety obliterated.
Darkness gave away to light as the Grimm´s black body was burned by the powerful Chaos Energy, sending melting metal parts flying away. Silver had to use his psychokinesis to throw any pieces coming towards him or Sonic away.
Shadow calmly stepped out of the crater he had caused and joined the other hedgehogs.
"So, it appears that we have been separated from the others into smaller groups by the power of the Phantom Ruby. Each group probably having one of these… Grimm thrown at them or a different kind of danger," he stated with crossed arms.
"But were could the others be?" asked Silver in clear concern.
Concerned, Sonic looked around as he heard the sound of metal hurting and part of a wall splitting apart, revealing a dimly lit corridor with many moving shadows. Growling and clanging filled the air in the room. The darkness lit up with glowing eyes, either red and burning or cold and mechanical.
"Unfortunately, wherever our friends are, they'll probably have to fight through crowds of enemies just like us!" The blue hedgehog said.
"Well, they're welcome to try and stop us. But even with additional monsters, the Eggman Empire will not be allowed to destroy the future!" Silver said with a determined expression.
Together the hedgehog trio speed into the oncoming waves of Grimm and Badniks. Modified Beowolfes and Ursai Minor roared at them, with Buzz Bombers hovering over the creatures with raised canons. Behind them were armed Egg Pawns and Egg Watchers. Sonic, Silver and Shadow crashed into the front lines of the Eggman Empire's forces.
The blue hedgehog activated a boost and sent several enemies sailing through the air. He then dodged the blows of an Ursai Minor and covered the Grimm with homing attacks.
Buzz Bombers aimed at him, but Silver gathered and focused them all into a clunky metal ball and threw it at a few Egg Watchers.
A Beowolf charged at Shadow, but he merely thrust his hand into its gaping mouth and fired a Chaos Spear. The energy projectile shot through the Grimm's head, throat and shoulder area and burst out of his shoulder. Before it had completely dissipated, the Ultimate Lifeform ducked and jumped over the thrusts of Egg Pawns armed with spears and lances. He managed to outsmart them by positioning himself so that when the machines struck again, Shadow did a back alto and they pierced each other. Another Egg Pawn aimed a giant laser pistol at Shadow, but Sonic smashed it with a Spindash. Several Egg Watchers and an Ursai Minor leapt at the speedster, but the blue hedgehog ran below the swipe with his head ducked and ran past the bear-like Grimm toward the machines, pushing them back with momentum aided punches and kicks. Sonic took care of the Egg Watchers with Silver coming for some support. The Ursai Minor turned around with a growl and was about to launch another attack at the blue hedgehog, but Shadow got in the way.
The soulless beast roared and reared up on its hind legs, ready to crush the smaller creature in black and red beneath its front paws. Shadow just stared up at the Grimm unimpressed as it dropped its full weight onto the hedgehog, but he disappeared in a flash of light. The Ursai's paws slashed and caved in the metal beneath it while in further flashes of light, Shadow attacked the Grimm from multiple sides with Chaos Spears. It roared and, despite its fur being covered in smoking holes, still tried to bite Shadow´s head off. He just finished it off like he did with the Beowolf previously.
Once the large Grimm had dissipated and its modifications fell to the ground, the Ultimate Lifeform looked around. Sonic and Silver just destroyed the last Badniks in the room. But noises echoing down the hallway showed that more enemies were on their way.
The hedgehogs' eyes met, and with a nod, they all sped out of the room down the hallway towards their coming opponents. After just a few meters they were bombarded with hostile forces. Sonic, Shadow and Silver fought their way through hundreds of robots and Grimm.
After a while of metal shattering and darkness dissipating, Shadow´s eyes widened a little.
He had felt something…
The black hedgehog kicked an Egg Pawn back and yelled to the others, "I can feel the power of a Chaos Emerald! It must be Ruby's. Maybe she's with the others. Or at least some of them."
Sonic spindashed trough the upper body of a Beowolf and asked, "Are you sure?"
Shadow dodged a few slashes from an Egg Cutter and an Egg Pawn with a sword.
"Who among us was genetically engineered to be sensitive to Chaos Energies?"
A Chaos Lance pierced trough the Badniks. Only a single Egg Cuter remained but Sonic took care of it by running past Shadow and activating a Boost, destroying the machine. He then looked back at his fellow hedgehog mobian.
"Can you take us there then?"
The Ultimate Lifeform closed his eyes. He tuned out the crashing and roaring around him, focusing on the faint Chaos Energy. Shadow opened his eyes and nodded.
"Yes, I can-" An E-2000 appeared from a side corridor and fired wildly at the hedgehogs. With their respective speeds (and Silver´s capability of flight) they avoided the attacks."-when that tin can is gone."
"Leave it to me!" Silver exclaimed. "Sonic. Shadow. Move aside!"
They did as they were told. Their battle companion from the future focused the turquoise energy of his psychokinesis around himself and formed it into several blade-like constructs. With a wave of his left hand Silver send his psychic knifes outward to the E-2000. It raised its shield to block them. This way, Silver was able to hold the Badnik's focus into defense. The hedgehog used his right hand to extend the reach of his psychic abilities to several scraps behind the E-2000, quietly gathering them into a heavy lump of metal. He then rolled it toward the cannon arm and sent it up to mesh the barrel. The big Badnik jolted in surprise, raised its cannon and fired, its programming instructing the machine to react hostilely to any kind of surprise. Of course, this only resulted in the weapon blowing itself up. The E-2000 staggered around, a smoking stump where its arm had just been. Silver raised both of his hands to the robot's other arm and the turquoise glow of his psychokinesis wrapped around the shield. It intensified as Silver pulled it towards him with all his strength. The E-2000 pulled against it, but eventually metal gave way and the shield was torn off the combat machine's arm.
Silver rotated it at his side, faster and faster until he sent it flying back to the E-2000 with a mental command. The Badnik tried to dodge, but was too slow, causing the robot to fall to the ground with its head split open.
Shadow gave Silver an impressed nod. Sonic whistled and said, "Wow. We´re so lucky that you are on our side, I don't think I would like to find out what a fight against you would be like."
Silver rubbed his quills sheepishly. "Oh come on, I'm not that scary. Right?"
Shadow moved to the corridor the E-2000 at appeared from. "Come on, you two. Let's move on before new robots or Grimm show up."
The hedgehogs ran off. Shadow led them through various hallways and rooms, all of them full of enemies. Eventually they reached a long hallway. In its middle it was intersected by a deep opening in its floor. Sonic noticed too late the ground stopping in front of him and fell into it. This would have been a rather unfavorable end for the hero of Mobius: The bottom of the opening was covered with a pulsating, deep black slime. It bulged and half formed jaws and claws reached out towards the falling hedgehog. A chorus of melted growl blubbering from beneath the slime´s surface. Just before Sonic fell into the hateful darkness, a turquoise light stopped his fall. One of the arms became stronger, forming long, sharp bone claws. It lashed out at Sonic, but Silver was already pulling him up. Shadow stood beside him and watched the time traveler gently lowering Sonic back on his feet. Then the Ultimate Lifeform looked back into the chasm. It came from and continued on underneath the wall of the corridor, it was actually a canal leading the dark slime somewhere. The semisolid limbs flowed away in the current. Here and there could be a red eye seen flashing or a still forming bone mask briefly surface and then sink back into the abyss-like depths of the slime. The walls of the channel, where the metal met the surface of the darkness, were dark, vein-like deposits and small crystalline outgrowths of a blackish-purple color.
"It appears this… substance is responsible for producing the Grimm found inside the Death Egg. Question remains were the substance itself originates from."
"I mean, most likely from Remnant?" Silver said in an unsure tone as he levitated himself and the other hedgehogs across the canal. Shadow put a hand on his face in thought.
Hm, wonder if Ruby as an answers on how this Grimm sludge works and its exact source. Are her and her people even fully aware of the origin of the Grimm?, he mused to himself.
Unfortunately there wasn't really time to really think about it. As soon as they landed on the other side, Shadow followed the signal of Chaos energy with Sonic and Silver close to him. The hallway curved in an arc that led the trio in the same direction as the canal did with the dark slime.
After defeating some more enemies, the hedgehogs found themselves face to face with a massive steel door.
Like many things Eggman built, there was a red symbol of his face on it. But here, to the left and right of the face, there were red images of raised, gloved hands with black slime running down between the fingers.
"Well, that isn't ominous at all," Sonic commented.
"It could maybe have something to do with the Grimm," Silver noted as he looked at the black slime depicted on the insignia.
Shadow didn't say anything. Wordlessly he gestured to the other two to step back. They followed when they say the Ultimate Lifeform go toward the door and charge the energy for another Chaos Blast. After the explosion the hedgehog trio stepped trough the dented and smoking doorway. As it turned out, Silver was right. Behind it were Grimm-related things happening.
The three stood inside some kind of factory. It was the longest and highest corridor the mobians had ever seen in the Death Egg. It stretched across several floors above them. Elongated chambers were built into the walls, but shielded from the corridor itself with energy barriers. With them on the ground floor, Sonic, Silver and Shadow saw the dark slime running into pits from several channels like the one from before. The substance collected in the pits, the edges of which had black outgrowths and larger versions of the blackish-purple crystals. Grimm crawled out of these pools. As soon as it took shape, its red eyes turned to the Mobians and jumped towards them. Or would be if it weren't for the force fields. Beowolves, Ursai Minor, Borbatusks, Death Stalkers, Creeps and Griffins clawed and bit at the obstacle between them and the living beings. Energy crackled and sparked, but the fields held. The three of them were able to watch as the ceiling opened over the Grimm and mechanical arms shot out at lightning speed. They each grabbed one of the soulless creatures and dragged them toward the countless chambers above them.
Shadow, Silver and Sonic looked up at the upper floors. In the chambers there they saw individual Grimm being held by several arms while others held the modifications. The hedgehogs watched as with precision only possible for machines, the arms wrapped barbed wire around limbs, spines and tusks. Metal plates and masks were nailed or drilled onto the bone armor with screws. If the Grimm felt any form of pain during this process, they only expressed it in the form of very loud and bloodthirsty roars. There were also special rooms with Grimm and water pools where the dark slime was seeped into the translucent liquid, causing the substance to form into Rucebs, which were then also taken out of the water and subjected to similar processes as the other Grimm. Once the modifications were completed, the arms brought their cargo to the top floor.
Silver floated up to them and saw behind the force fields how the arms put the creatures on conveyor belts where mechanical tentacles shot out of their surface and tied the soulless shadows there. They even wrapped themselves around the mouths and beaks of the Grimm to prevent them from biting themselves free. The conveyor belts started moving and transported the Grimm to various rooms in the Death Egg to release them and wait until they could be unleashed on any unfortunate Resistance members.
Silver landed back to the others and reported his observations to them.
"If we don't stop this, our troops will find themselves overrun by nightmarish creatures, along with all the Badniks. It would cause a lot of fear and remember what Ruby said!" the silver colored hedgehog exclaimed. He clenched a fist. "We have to destroy everything here!"
Sonic put a hand on the time traveler's shoulder to calm him down a bit.
"Look, I'm all for destroying Eggman's property and plans, but it might take a while for all this..." He gestured to the countless rooms around them. "...to destroy. And we know how long our troops have been outside around the Death Egg. Or what their situation is."
"Sonic is right," Shadow agreed. "The rest of the resistance had had a lot of trouble with the external security systems when we left them. They may not have the time for to wait for us taking care of very single obstacle. And don't forget: We saw one of the canals leading towards this place. Not from it. The actual source for the Grimm sludge lays elsewhere, maybe even providing several of these places with the resource."
"But... but what should we do then?"
Shadow closed his eyes at Silver's question and he focused again on the Chaos Energy he sensed. He quickly opened them again and looked at the far end of the long corridor. Vaguely he could make out a thick door of a similar design to the one they had come through. The black hedgehog pointed at it.
"The other Chaos Emerald is right there. The others must be behind the door. Maybe they have found another canal and followed it to investigate where it leads to. We should meet up with them and discuss the situation. Hopefully Ruby is there, maybe she can help us. She is the one with the highest knowledge and expertise about Grimm. And if Tails managed to remain at her side he could also be helpful in coming up with a plan."
Sonic nodded eagerly. He hoped he could be reunited with his little buddy and his newest friend and fellow speedster as soon as possible. Silver also nodded, although more reservedly. He didn't like it that they just let the Grimm continue their dark existence as possible dangers for innocents. And something about those eyes burning with a mindless desire for nothing but destruction rubbed the hedgehog from the future the wrong way…
But he still saw the logic in Shadow´s and Sonic´s arguments. He sighed.
"Fine. Let us continue."
And so they did, approaching the other door and trying their best to ignore the growling and scratching of the newly formed Grimm behind the force fields as they tried to get at the mobains and tear them to pieces. As they reached their destination, Shadow was about to use another Chaos Blast until he realized it could harm their allies on the other side. Instead, he had Sonic weaken the door with several homing attacks and then had Silver grab it with his mental grasp and rip the door off its hinges. With the path clear, the trio wandered down a short hallway, rounded a curve, and reached a large, round chamber. But what greeted them was not the sight of their allies… but something else.
A cylindrical reactor rose in the center of the chamber. It was made from a dark gray metal and wires sparkling with Chaos Energy. Tubes connected it to the ceiling and mechanisms of the Death Egg. Glass chambers were integrated into the reactor. They were filled with a purplish liquid, the shards of failed Phantom Ruby experiments floating inside. The entire apparatus pulsated like a beating heart.
"What is… wait, is that…" Silver didn't finish his sentence.
Sonic remained completely silent, disappointment at the lack of friendly faces and concern about this development clear on his face. His eyes went to the remaining hedgehog of the trio.
Shadow looked at the reactor with a dark expression. "This must be the Death Egg's energy source. And that of the Phantom Ruby. The Chaos Emerald I sensed… it's within all the metal and wires. It´s the core piece of this reactor!"
"Indeed it is." Infinite appeared. The hedgehogs assumed battle-ready stances. Infinite hovered in the air, looking down on them with an amused expression in his visible eye. "So the S.S.S. Hedgehog has managed to reach dock. Had trouble with some dark, grim storm clouds?What do you think about the newest addition to the Eggman Empire? The Grimm, so wild, so full with a hate towards life itself, that burns like a seething lake full of lava. Uncontrollable but if you channel this hate in the right direction, it's extremely useful."
"So old Eghead thinks he has a better chance of winning by allying himself with more monsters? Well, at least here the outside shows the inside well. Although, we've never seen what's under your mask, Infinite." Sonic finished with a slight jab. But the masked entity remained cool. He just chuckled.
"Underneath this mask is nothing but the face of a forgotten, pathetic whelp. Nothing you should be concerned about. No." The Phantom Ruby glowed. "You should be concerned about yourself right now."
"So, you´ve lead us into a trap? Knowing I would sense the Chaos Emerald inside the reactor and believe it to be the one belonging to our allies?" asked Shadow. His body was tense and energy flared between his fingers. Infinite looked at him curiously.
"I was hoping you would find your way here with your abilities, yes, but I didn't expect you to believe you would want to see the faces of your dear friends here."
Underneath the mask a sinister grin spread.
"That´s too bad. If I had realized that, we could have played a little game. Remember the one in Mystic Jungle, Shadow? I´m sure Omega and Rouge would have loved to follow Maria´s example." A yellowish-golden eye looked at Sonic trough a red visor. "And maybe Tails and Ruby too."
Sonic and Shadow gave the reality manipulator a dark look. The latter gritted his teeth and exhaled forcefully trough his nose, trying not to let Infinite get to him.
Beside the two, Silver clenched his fists. He raised one toward the masked foe in a determined gesture.
"Your game time will soon be over Infinite! We will destroy the reactor and your forces with it!"
The entity just threw his head back.
"Ahahahaha! Do you really think I'll just let you destroy the reactor?"
Sonic stepped forward. "No. But you forget: Me and Silver gave you a hard time. Me and Shadow gave you a hard time. With the three of us against you, your stand no chance."
"If I remember correctly, I made ALL of YOU struggle. After all, you and Shadow escaped Metropolis. You and Silver, we fought to a standstill in Mystic Jungle, both sides having to retreat and lick their wounds because I underestimated you back then. But this time you won't escape. This…" He pointed to the reactor "...is what you're after. As is typical for heroes, you won't leave until you destroy it. And there's one little fact that you haven't considered. It's true, you three would have a good chance against me. In any other situation."
The Phantom Ruby´s diabolical glow intensified. Reality started to glitch. A rotating barrier of dark red cubes surrounded the reactor.
"But what are your chances against me when I'm right at the source of my power?"
Sonic and Silver froze. Shadow cursed.
Infinite drew energy from the reactor and the glitches intensified. The doorway the hedgehogs had come through flickered and warped until it was replaced by a solid piece of wall. No route of escape.
Surging with red energy, Infinite was coming at them like a tidal wave.
Team Triple-S has come face to with Infinite and seen one of the Grimm factories that are responsible in upgrading the creatures. And while they have found the actual goal of their mission, the hedgehogs are currently unaware that Tails send the rest of the Resistance into a retreat and is also facing, alongside Ruby, Cinder. We will see how things will develop for our heroes next time.
To Guest: And what is that lesson?
To quirky2023: Heh, you´re on the right track.
To Arguable Reader: True. The Death Egg in Forces didn't give the feeling of being a… well, A Death Egg. A huge place of doom floating in the cold void of space. Children can have badass and good games, it´s just that some people think giving them mindless and no challenging entertainment is already to much for them to handle.
And yes, wanted to have some loses for the good guys as well.
They were indeed about an hour inside the Death Egg. But their original goal was to locate the computer room for the outer defense mechanism and deactivate it, which would have taken time. This is why Rotor said few minutes because he only started to reach them after a certain amount of time and the situation for the space ships getting to difficult to handle.
To Guest: Yeah, no. Amy has shown throughout the years of becoming more than just a clingy fan girl. And even then, while being prone to violence, I doubt she would actually kill someone over her crush. She isn't a yandere.
To Grand Chaos Master: I can see your logic and I´m quite drawn to the idea but I am not sure if it would feel a little out of left field for Sonic to completely throw down and go apeshit. But… I think I have a perfect scene in the sequel for what you´re suggesting.
I have no idea what you mean with limit scene. Could you describe it more?
To Monster King: I will.